Straight Shooters

Magic Wand

But does a flashy cue increase the odds against the competition? Is there some weird psychological effect from all that glitz?

If you have an expensive cue and you walk into a pool hall, people might notice it and perceive that you know what you're doing, says Dishaw. But "as soon as you hit a ball, the [perception] goes away."

"A good player can play with a broom handle," Dishaw adds. In the hands of an expert, however, a custom-made cue can be the equivalent of a Stradivarius violin to a virtuoso.

Wadsworth says it's hard to find a cuemaker you can really trust. "Especially in the last five years ... a lot of what [cuemakers] do doesn't work well because they have no experience," he says. The biggest thing to look for is the use of seasoned wood, which helps prevent warping.

Cue prices range from $900 to $20,000, but the bells and whistles make the difference in price, notes Sciannella. Details of ebony and ivory are popular, as are gold and silver inlays and exotic handle wraps, including lizard. Most frills, such as inlays, don't do anything functional, but features such as deep-knifed prongs add weight, stiffness and balance.

Stick to Science

That's not to say cuemakers only care about fancy sticks; in fact, Sciannella has the perfect playing cue down to a science.

Black Boar differentiates itself because it relies heavily on the physics of the cue. "We take everything to a much higher level," says Sciannella, who watches how clients play in order to determine what kind of cue will give them the best game.

His favorite part is determining which eye the person is using in his or her game. Ninety percent of people play favoring the right eye, while it's really the left that plays pool, he explains.

Sciannella's secret is also in the wood -- bird's-eye maple and curley.

Besides their beautiful colors and grains, these woods are strong and shock-resistant, providing the right weight and the lowest resonant pitch.

The slightest change in material can alter the stiffness and weight distribution in the cue, Sciannella explains, making a stainless-steel joint of 1 ounce vs. 1.3 ounces an important factor.

"If there was just one cue that was good for everybody, everybody would be playing with it," says Sciannella, who will customize a cue even after it's made. "We modify it until it does what it's supposed to do."

Sciannella claims that his cues, which can take up to six months to make, are so distinguishable that people walk into a pool room and hear the specific sound -- like hitting the sweet spot on a tennis racket -- and they know it's a Black Boar.

As far as the professionals, Sciannella says they are not necessarily pros at picking a good cue. They often go for endorsements from commercial cuemakers or assume they can play with anything. "They all want something for nothing," he says. The average pool player, who will often opt for the prettier cue over the better playing one, ends up switching quickly, he says.

In the end, as Sciannella says, "Each cue speaks for itself."

So before you get carried away with showy sticks, find yourself a reputable cuemaker. Then, in the immortal words of Cash, "Maybe you'd shoot straighter than you do."

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